Intruders (2012). Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Starring Clive Owen, Clarice van Houten, Daniel BrÁ¼hl, Pilar LÁ³pez de Ayala, Ella Purnell, IzÁ¡n Corchero, Kerry Fox.
Everyone loves a good boogie man movie, right? When I went into this film, I didn’t realize that’s what it was going to turn out to be. The story seems pretty basic: two children who live in different countries are harassed by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them — specifically, it wants their faces. But it turns out to be a much more complicated story of guilt, regret, and the consequences of trying to escape your past. It’s a fine movie, if a little convoluted, and Clive Owen turns in a good performance. But the real star of this movie is Ella Purnell, who does a wonderful job as Owen’s daughter, Mia. That girl is going to be a real star one day very soon.
I don’t think this is a very scary film, but you might, so give it a go. If nothing else, you’ll be watching two hours of a brooding Clive Owen and that’s never a bad thing.
The Woman In Black (2012). Directed by James Watkins. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Shaun Dooley, CiarÁ¡n Hinds, Mary Stockley.
I love a good old-timey haunted house movie, so I was actually kind of excited about this one. I’ve never seen a single Harry Potter film, so this was actually my first non-SNL encounter with Daniel Radcliffe’s acting and he’s…fine. This movie is fine. It’s not scary, but it’s very atmospheric and creepy and sometimes that’s all a haunted house movie needs to be. But this one could’ve been so much better. It just misses the mark, and that’s a bummer. I did very much enjoy the performances of Janet McTeer and CiarÁ¡n Hinds, and I think Radcliffe has potential in a post-Harry Potter world, but I don’t think this was the role for him. I just didn’t buy him as a grieving widower. The strength in his performance comes from the fact that he does a pretty good job of being scared all the time and I don’t know what that says.
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